When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and revolutionized the online publishing world. Now, it’s getting more difficult to tell if the website is running on a “blogging” CMS software application like the WP platform, or if it’s been built using a website development tool. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the areas that many website owners are deeply concerned with, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you selected web site “B”, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an expensive-looking website that will normally end up costing you far less to build than websites which use website-building software … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS platform that is ideally suited for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no technical skills to use, yet it offers many helpful add-ons that make your web presence more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site is also driven by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to be able to show your web developer an existing website with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get something similarly built for very little cost?
How Can I Check If A Website Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve read about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other website application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if a website has been built using WordPress:
Check The Page’s Source Code For Obvious TellTale WordPress Footprints
If you know how to search the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for obvious telltale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(View the web page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a website that you like, and you’re wondering if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the site loads on your screen, you can search for the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate “wp-content” within the page source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the point of this article is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier ways to check if your site is built with WordPress other than searching the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, many website development agencies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what CMS application was used to build it, just ask your developer or whoever built your website if the website has been built with WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who built your site, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing online and you really want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the them template has not been customized, you will typically see a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – footer section)
If the methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built using WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some online applications that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checking Tool
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that tells you if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is really simple. Just add the address of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go and search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site does not run on WordPress, you will get a message like the one shown in the screenshot below …
To use this tool, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Add-On For Firefox / Chrome Browser)
If you use a web browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what software is installed on the sites while you are browsing.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
It’s also a very easy to install and easy to use web browser add-on.
After installing the Wappalyzer add-on on your browser, icons will display in your browser, next to the site URL identifying which technologies are installed on the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer add-on website here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, go here:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
I hope you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie